Formation of ferromagnetic molecular thin films from blends by annealing

• Peter Robaschik,
• Ye Ma,
• Salahud Din and
• Sandrine Heutz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1469–1475, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.146

• correspond to the diffraction from the (001) and (20−1) planes of β-MnPc [17][18]. We note that the (20−1) plane is not usually observed in β-MnPc films obtained by annealing of the α-phase and its observation indicates a reduced texture. This is presumably due to the disordered nature of the starting film

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• certain degree of texture at elevated substrate temperatures (here, 400 °C) is in good agreement with previous reports on MoS2 PVD [31]. The reasons for the structural differences of our MoS2 thin films compared to bulk MoS2 reference crystals could be related to the sputter deposition process and the

Near-field surface plasmon field enhancement induced by rippled surfaces

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Francesco Fuso,
• Ruggero Micheletto,
• Makoto Naruse,
• Francesco Tantussi and
• Maria Allegrini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 956–967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.97

• accurate knowledge of the spatial distribution of large field enhancements requires an accurate knowledge of the nanostructure morphology. This is particularly true for the spatial distribution of a random pattern composed of a texture of hills and valleys. Rippled surfaces represent a special case of

• mean surface is kept constant regardless of the angle of incidence (W/cosθ0 = L/4, and θ0 = 45°) [38]. This intercept illuminates a sufficiently large region of the surface in terms of the incident wavelength range, nominally varying from 400 to 900 nm. The surface texture of the rippled surfaces

• usefully employed for the characterization of the optical properties of surface plasmons of random surfaces, given that their tuning is also intrinsically connected to the ripple texture. Conclusion Resonances on surface metallic nanostructures are often found experimentally by probing the structures under

Surface improvement of organic photoresists using a near-field-dependent etching method

• Felix J. Brandenburg,
• Tomohiro Okamoto,
• Hiroshi Saito,
• Benjamin Leuschel,
• Olivier Soppera and
• Takashi Yatsui

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 784–788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.81

•  1c and Figure 1d does not change its structural shape noticeably; however, the surface texture of the photoresist appears to become smoother after near-field etching when looking at the detailed images in Figure 1e and Figure 1f. For a more detailed view, Figure 2a illustrates the cross-sectional

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• products with larger particle sizes [20]. TEM and SEM analysis To study the morphology and texture of the synthesized Ta2O5 nanoparticles TEM and SEM were carried out. A TEM image of Ta(OEt)4(OOCCH2Cl)-derived Ta2O5 nanoparticles shows that the particles are spherical with an average diameter of 40 nm

Fiber optic sensors based on hybrid phenyl-silica xerogel films to detect n-hexane: determination of the isosteric enthalpy of adsorption

• Jesús C. Echeverría,
• Ignacio Calleja,
• Paula Moriones and
• Julián J. Garrido

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 475–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.51

• , controlled porous texture that includes a specific surface area and average pore size distribution, and tunable surface chemistry. In the case of fiber optic reflectance sensors (FORSs), these sensitive films vary their optical properties upon interaction with the analyte, thereby resulting in a change in

• the porous texture and the interaction or adsorption energy. Molecules cover the external surface, fill the narrow micropores, and condense on meso- and macropores, depending on the relative pressure of the analyte. However, diffusion should also be taken into consideration. The ability of porous

• silica and organically modified porous silica films to detect the presence of VOCs under different measurement conditions has been investigated [10][11][12][13][14]. The porous texture and the surface chemistry determine the response. Silanol groups on the surface of the xerogel, which act as weak acids

Study of the surface properties of ZnO nanocolumns used for thin-film solar cells

• Neda Neykova,
• Jiri Stuchlik,
• Karel Hruska,
• Ales Poruba,
• Zdenek Remes and
• Ognen Pop-Georgievski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 446–451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.48

• distance, given by the thickness of the Si layers on the walls of the NCs, is generally substantially thinner than that applied for state-of-the-art a-Si:H solar cells; the lateral carrier transport provided by this type of texture should thus ensure an optimal current collection. Therefore, it is

Template-controlled piezoactivity of ZnO thin films grown via a bioinspired approach

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Fabian Streb,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Thomas Schimmel,
• Zaklina Burghard and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 296–303, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.32

• polyelectrolyte leads to texturing of the ZnO film. This texture enables a piezoelectric performance of the material which was measured by piezoresponse force microscopy. This study shows that it is possible to tune the piezoelectric properties of ZnO by applying templates with different functionalities

• the coupling of the materials response in the z-direction to an electric field applied in the same direction [7]. For piezoactive, polycrystalline ZnO thin films it is therefore essential that most of the crystallites are oriented in the same way. This means a (002) texture is formed resulting in a

• along the crystallographic (002) direction (Figure 3b). In analogy to the results of Shyue et al., the sulfonate groups should be more negatively charged compared to the carboxylate groups [40]. This can explain the observed texture formation on the PEL. The electrostatic interaction between the ZnO

Electron energy relaxation under terahertz excitation in (Cd_1−xZn_x)₃As₂ Dirac semimetals

• Alexandra V. Galeeva,
• Ivan V. Krylov,
• Konstantin A. Drozdov,
• Anatoly F. Knjazev,
• Alexey V. Kochura,
• Alexander P. Kuzmenko,
• Vasily S. Zakhvalinskii,
• Sergey N. Danilov,
• Ludmila I. Ryabova and
• Dmitry R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 167–171, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.17

• conductive surface electron states with a spin texture in Dirac semimetals (Cd1−xZnx)3As2. We performed a study on a range of (Cd1−xZnx)3As2 mixed crystals undergoing a transition from the Dirac semimetal phase with an inverse electron energy spectrum to trivial a semiconductor with a direct spectrum in the

• that such behavior is attributed to a strong damping of the interelectron interaction in the Dirac semimetal phase compared to the trivial semiconductor, which may be due to the formation of surface electron states with a spin texture in Dirac semimetals. Keywords: Dirac semimetal; photo

• the electron mobility observed in Cd3As2, which is up to 107 cm2/(V·s) [9][11]. The question concerning formation of spin-polarized surface electron states in 3D Dirac semimetals remains open. According to [9][11], the surface states of Cd3As2 do not possess any spin texture. However, the authors do

When the going gets rough – studying the effect of surface roughness on the adhesive abilities of tree frogs

• Niall Crawford,
• Thomas Endlein,
• Jonathan T. Pham,
• Mathis Riehle and
• W. Jon P. Barnes

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2116–2131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.201

• be absent, and any adhesion will be likely due to rate-dependent viscous forces. Roughness is a component of surface texture, a measure of the amplitude and frequency of deviations from a flat surface. Most natural surfaces are not smooth (unless polished by, for instance, the action of water), but

Annealing-induced recovery of indents in thin Au(Fe) bilayer films

• Anna Kosinova,
• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Leonid Klinger and
• Eugen Rabkin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2088–2099, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.199

• of structural defects in the film and improves its thermal stability. The Au layer exhibited a strong [111] out-of-plane texture and two twinning-related in-plane orientations related by a 60° rotation around the surface normal. The Fe underlayer exhibited a strong [110] out-of-plane texture with

• presence of triple junctions in the film is related to the deviations from the ideal Σ3 misorientation between the grains, as also confirmed by an angular spread of the {111} reflections in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pole figure shown in Figure 1b. Indeed, thin films with the perfect <111> texture, in

• grain growth and texture sharpening had occurred in the film upon annealing, so that either a single grain boundary or no grain boundary at all were present in the immediate vicinity of the indents. We believe that the depressions were formed only in the cases when a grain boundary was available near

A novel electrochemical nanobiosensor for the ultrasensitive and specific detection of femtomolar-level gastric cancer biomarker miRNA-106a

• Maryam Daneshpour,
• Kobra Omidfar and
• Hossein Ghanbarian

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2023–2036, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.193

• thickness of assembled layers increased step by step. Moreover, the roughness of SPCE surface notably changed after coating with streptavidin and a nodular texture appeared. Further immobilization with P2 introduced a needle-like structure to the surface and enhanced the average roughness. The surface of

Effect of Anderson localization on light emission from gold nanoparticle aggregates

• Mohamed H. Abdellatif,
• Marco Salerno,
• Gaser N. Abdelrasoul,
• Ioannis Liakos,
• Alice Scarpellini,
• Sergio Marras and
• Alberto Diaspro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2013–2022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.192

• importance of both texture and above all the roughness of the material surfaces for many disparate physical/chemical properties are well-known and documented throughout the existing scientific literature [27][28][29][30]. In fact, we acquired atomic force microscopy images (Supporting Information File 1

Ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO: the role of grain boundaries

• Boris B. Straumal,
• Svetlana G. Protasova,
• Andrei A. Mazilkin,
• Eberhard Goering,
• Gisela Schütz,
• Petr B. Straumal and
• Brigitte Baretzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1936–1947, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.185

• sample will not have ferromagnetic properties [45][46]. The magnetic properties depend critically on the texture of films and the structure of amorphous GB layers [49][50]. Thus, the condition sGB > sth is necessary but not sufficient for ferromagnetism of undoped ZnO. One needs also a certain texture

• ferromagnetism of undoped ZnO. A certain texture and structure of amorphous intercrystalline layers is necessary. Nevertheless, the key role of GBs in the ferromagnetic behaviour of ZnO is proven by LE-µSR. Modelling with molecular dynamics combined with density functional theory calculations permitted to find

A new approach to grain boundary engineering for nanocrystalline materials

• Shigeaki Kobayashi,
• Sadahiro Tsurekawa and
• Tadao Watanabe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1829–1849, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.176

• Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan, Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China, Formerly, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan 10.3762/bjnano.7.176 Abstract A new approach to grain boundary engineering (GBE) for

• produced by precise control of grain boundary microstructure associated with the evolution of a sharp <110> texture in the 1980s [52], soon after the first report on nanocrystalline materials. A number of excellent review papers have been published on nanocrystalline materials produced by different

• the fine-grained structure with submicrometer average grain size during high cycle fatigue test, although the sharpness of the {001} texture hardly changed among the pre- and postfatigued specimens. It should be noted that the trace of grain boundaries exhibits an interesting characteristic feature

Properties of Ni and Ni–Fe nanowires electrochemically deposited into a porous alumina template

• Alla I. Vorobjova,
• Dmitry L. Shimanovich,
• Kazimir I. Yanushkevich,
• Sergej L. Prischepa and
• Elena A. Outkina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1709–1717, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.163

• reported that under identical conditions of electrochemical deposition the primary orientation of crystallites (texture) for alloy films (Ni–Fe coating) and single-component films (Ni) will be different as a result of significant grain refinement and increasing Fe content in the range from 1 to 25% [41

Nano- and microstructured materials for in vitro studies of the physiology of vascular cells

• Alexandra M. Greiner,
• Adria Sales,
• Hao Chen,
• Sarah A. Biela,
• Dieter Kaufmann and
• Ralf Kemkemer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1620–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.155

• nanostructuring of medical implants for the in vivo control and stimulation of (vascular) cells behavior [8][9][10][12][201][202]. For example, it has been demonstrated that an efficient approach to improve the functions of a medical stent is the application of a morphological texture to the stent surface

Effect of triple junctions on deformation twinning in a nanostructured Cu–Zn alloy: A statistical study using transmission Kikuchi diffraction

• Silu Liu,
• Xiaolong Ma,
• Lingzhen Li,
• Liwen Zhang,
• Patrick W. Trimby,
• Xiaozhou Liao,
• Yusheng Li,
• Yonghao Zhao and
• Yuntian Zhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1501–1506, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.143

• problematic when studying the relationship between twins and triple junctions from a statistical view and when the sample has a significant texture. In the last few years, an innovative microscopy technique has been developed using a conventional electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system in a scanning

• boundaries and a change in color within grains. The pole figures presented in Figure 2b reveal that there is only a weak texture. These details are consistent with the deformation features observed under TEM. Figure 3a–c shows TEM images of three typical types of twins. They corresponds to the three most

• C present three typical twin structures that correspond to those shown in Figure 3a–c, respectively. In B and C, twins intersect with triple junctions (highlighted by circles), which is a common phenomenon in all orientation maps. (b) Pole figures of the area presented in (a). Only a weak texture is

Surface roughness rather than surface chemistry essentially affects insect adhesion

• Matt W. England,
• Tomoya Sato,
• Makoto Yagihashi,
• Atsushi Hozumi,
• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Elena V. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1471–1479, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.139

• summary, we have clearly shown that the insect anti-adhesive effect is due to both surface chemistry and texture, but it is primarily driven by the substrate roughness, and less by surface chemistry. It seems to be a universal effect for both dry [40][41] and wet (but not glue-mediated) [23][29][38][42

Reasons and remedies for the agglomeration of multilayered graphene and carbon nanotubes in polymers

• Rasheed Atif and
• Fawad Inam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1174–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.109

• include a large surface-to-volume ratio and a chemical texture of the surface [1][2]. Surfaces are inherently high-energy sites. Because nano-fillers have high a surface area, they also have very high values of surface energy. When the nano-fillers are added to a polymer matrix this high surface energy

Orientation of FePt nanoparticles on top of a-SiO₂/Si(001), MgO(001) and sapphire(0001): effect of thermal treatments and influence of substrate and particle size

• Martin Schilling,
• Paul Ziemann,
• Zaoli Zhang,
• Johannes Biskupek,
• Ute Kaiser and
• Ulf Wiedwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 591–604, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.52

• , 89069 Ulm, Germany Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Jahnstrasse 12, 8700 Leoben, Austria Faculty of Physics and Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.7.52 Abstract Texture formation and epitaxy of thin metal

• pulsed laser deposition (PLD), served as reference samples. The structural properties were probed in situ, particularly texture formation and epitaxy of the specimens by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and, in case of 3 nm nanoparticles, additionally by high-resolution transmission

• transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM); nanoparticles; reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED); solid-phase epitaxy; texture; Introduction Due to their attractive catalytic properties for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) [1][2] as well as their high magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy density

In situ observation of deformation processes in nanocrystalline face-centered cubic metals

• Aaron Kobler,
• Christian Brandl,
• Horst Hahn and
• Christian Kübel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 572–580, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.50

• increase the internal stresses and eventually the dislocation and twin density [50][51]. Besides the dislocation content and growth twins, the grain size and structure as well as texture at the beginning of straining are expected to influence the strength, the detailed interplay and transition of multiple

Chemical bath deposition of textured and compact zinc oxide thin films on vinyl-terminated polystyrene brushes

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Caroline G. Hofmeister,
• Peter Lindemann,
• Cheng Huang,
• Johannes Baier,
• Andreas Leineweber,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Christof Wöll,
• Thomas Schimmel and
• Joachim Bill

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 102–110, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.12

• stronger interaction between the then polar template and polar ZnO crystallites in solution. This may lead to oriented attachment of the crystallites so that the observed (002) texture arises. Characterization of the templates and the resulting ZnO films were performed with ζ-potential and contact angle

• by the strong (002) reflection within the XRD pattern. The corresponding film grown on SiOx on the other hand shows no texture (Figure 4a). A value for the average crystallite size of precipitated ZnO on PS brushes was determined to be around 4.2 ± 0.1 nm. This calculated crystallite size is in the

Dependence of lattice strain relaxation, absorbance, and sheet resistance on thickness in textured ZnO@B transparent conductive oxide for thin-film solar cell applications

• Kuang-Yang Kou,
• Yu-En Huang,
• Chien-Hsun Chen and
• Shih-Wei Feng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 75–80, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.9

• Research Labs, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan 10.3762/bjnano.7.9 Abstract The interplay of surface texture, strain relaxation, absorbance, grain size, and sheet resistance in textured, boron-doped ZnO (ZnO@B), transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials of different thicknesses

• used for thin film, solar cell applications is investigated. The residual strain induced by the lattice mismatch and the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient for thicker ZnO@B is relaxed, leading to an increased surface texture, stronger absorbance, larger grain size, and lower sheet

• increased surface texture, stronger absorbance, larger grain size, and lower sheet resistance. The optimization of the TCO layer could be useful for enhancing the performance of solar cells. Results and Discussion Structural characterization Four ZnO@B samples with 20-, 40-, 60-, and 70-minute growth times

Nanostructured surfaces by supramolecular self-assembly of linear oligosilsesquioxanes with biocompatible side groups

• Maria Nowacka,
• Anna Kowalewska and
• Tomasz Makowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2377–2387, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.244

• observed due to the donor–acceptor character of the functional groups. The texture of supramolecular nanostructures formed by the studied materials on mica was analysed with atomic force microscopy and their specific surface energy was estimated by contact angle measurements. Significant differences in the